


Exile

by evetessmacher



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst, Awkward Conversations, F/M, Hurt, Love Triangle, Major Character Injury, Mutual Pining, Pining, Post Season 5, Reunions, Self-Sacrifice, Team Up, Time Travelling Villain, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 22:22:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29533329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evetessmacher/pseuds/evetessmacher
Summary: "I can see you starin', honey, like he's just your understudy, like you'd get your knuckles bloody for me. Second, third, and hundredth chances, balancin' on breaking branches, those eyes add insult to injury."
Relationships: Kara Danvers & Mon-El, Kara Danvers/Mon-El
Comments: 20
Kudos: 55





	1. You're not my homeland anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> supported and encouraged by @breeallen, beta'd by @andromedasmith!  
> i hope you guys enjoy this rollercoaster of emotions ❤️❤️

"Hey, sorry if I'm a little late." Alex walked into Kara's loft, while her sister sat on the couch with a serious and almost scared expression on her face, "You look like you've seen a ghost, what happened?"  
Kara struggled to get a single word out of her mouth. Her thoughts just kept running in circles and jumping up and down in her brain.  
Inhaling a sharp breath, she started explaining from the beginning what she’d seen: "Last night, I forgot my jacket at the bar, and as soon as I realized it this morning, I stopped by really quickly just to see if it was still there. I found it, grabbed it and was ready to go, until.." she took another breath, "when I was walking out of the bar, I recognized a voice coming from the other side of the room that made me stop dead in my tracks: it was Mon-El."

"What? Are you sure? Did you see him?"  
"No, I didn't see him, and I'm pretty sure he didn't see me either, he was talking to two other men, but Alex, I would recognize that voice anywhere. I've been thinking about it all day."  
"Okay, so.. are you gonna meet him at the bar again? Like, wait for him to show up?"  
"No."  
"No?!?"  
"Alex, why would he be back here without saying anything?"  
"You didn't even see if it was actually him!"  
"It was him! I know him better than anyone, I just know that was his voice!"  
"Okay.. then maybe he's here on a mission but hasn't told us anything because it would disrupt the timeline."  
"Maybe," Kara bit her lip, "but I have another idea that has made me really nervous..."

"Which is?"  
"He doesn't remember me. Or anyone here in National City."  
"Why?"  
"The Crisis, remember?"  
"I don't think that is possible, no."  
"How can you be so sure?"  
"Well, Winn came back and the Legion was still the Legion, and didn't he say your name is one of the most popular names of that century? It's obvious it's all because of Mon-El who founded the Legion in your honor."  
"He never mentioned Mon-El when we spoke: maybe the timeline changed and someone else founded the Legion, for different reasons. Maybe my name became… _famous_ because of something else."

"Hey, you're overthinking it now."  
"Alex, I know I haven't talked or thought about him in a while, but he will always be my first love and… if he doesn't remember me, our story, I- I don't know what I'll do. It would feel like somebody dug a hole inside of my heart and took away the happiest year of my life."  
“I’m sure this is all in your head. You’re just shocked, seeing, I mean, hearing Mon-El after such a long time: relax for the next few days and try to be more rational. You’ll see it’s all fine when you talk to him.”  
“I hope you’re right.” Kara rested her head on Alex’s shoulder, realizing how deeply affected she was by Mon-El even after years without him: he would always be one of her weaknesses.

“Besides, why would he be right here in National City, at the bar where he worked, if he didn’t remember his world before the Crisis?”  
“You’ve always been the smart sister.”  
“Oh please, _Miss Calculus at Four Years Old._ ” Alex managed to calm her sister down and finally make her laugh, but now Kara had to figure out what to do next.

The need to talk to him again and ask for an explanation only grew that week: Kara wasn’t as nervous as when she told Alex what happened, but was still scared of what his reaction might be; she didn’t want to ruin his mission, if there actually was one, but she needed an answer to make sure they were still okay and Mon-El wasn’t avoiding her.

Kara started wondering if he had done some “superheroing” since he’d been back, because that would’ve meant he wasn’t really hiding, so she started asking some of her coworkers at CatCo if they had seen or heard about _“That man in the red suit who used to be on Supergirl’s team a while ago”_ recently, but everyone shook their head no.

“What are you doing?” Nia startled Kara, appearing behind her desk while she was, once again, overthinking.  
“Gosh, Nia, you scared me!”  
“I didn’t mean to, but you seemed so deep in thought I just had to ask: what’s wrong?”  
“Nothing.”  
“In the three years I’ve worked here, I’ve never seen you interact with Leah before this moment: what did you ask her?”  
“Nothing important.”  
“If it’s not important then why are you so lost in your thoughts?”  
Kara groaned, knowing she had no escapes when it came to Nia, she was always going to get the truth out of her: “I’ll tell you during our lunch break.”  
However, that did not happen, because William approached the two girls on their way to Noonan’s and Kara ended up faking a family emergency and telling them she would see them at CatCo later.  
Nia texted Kara: _“Does it have to do with William?”_  
_“No, but I can’t talk about it in front of him. I’ll meet you in the bathroom at work and I’ll explain everything.”_

Once she made sure nobody was hiding in the bathroom stalls and eavesdropping, Kara told Nia about her _not-meeting_ with her ex boyfriend, and why she was asking about him.  
“You have to meet him and find out what’s happening, there’s no way he wouldn’t have told you or Brainy about this. Did you tell J’onn?”  
“No, the only people who know are you and Alex.”  
“If it really has to do with a mission, like Alex suggested, J’onn could still remove his memory of you two meeting, so it wouldn’t affect anything.”  
Kara flinched at the mention of Mon-El being mindwiped, “I- I don’t know if that’s how it works.”  
“You should drop by the bar tomorrow at the same time you first saw him, and if he doesn’t show up, you can still ask Al when you can find him.”  
“And what if Al makes up some excuse to cover for him?”  
“If you really want answers, you shouldn’t move until you get them.”

“Kara! What are you doing here this early?” Al was vacuuming the floor, the bar was still empty, the chairs were still flipped on the tables.  
“Good morning Al, I’m just here to ask you something.”  
“Uhm, I don’t mean to sound rude, but can it wait until I’m done with my chores?”  
“It’s just a quick question,” she crossed her arms on her chest, “have you seen Mon-El?”  
“Mon-El?”  
“Yes, I know you know him. And I saw him here recently, so don’t try to lie, please.”  
Al turned off his vacuum and sighed, “Yes.”  
“Did he ask you to lie in case I came looking for him?”  
“No, but I feel like you should have a conversation with him yourself.” He glanced at the front door, and once Kara turned around, she saw Mon-El frozen like a deer in headlights, just like when she first heard his voice.  
Al exited the room to leave them alone like he’d said, and the two ex lovers weren’t sure how to behave.  
“I’m sure you have a lot of questions.” Mon-El said walking towards Kara. “I do.”

She grabbed two chairs for them, knowing this was going to be a long talk just by the tone of his voice: Mon-El sat down in front of her, and they were finally looking into each other’s eyes for the first time in years.  
“In case you’re wondering how you got caught-“ Kara started, “At the beginning of the week I came here one morning to find a jacket I had forgotten the day before, and I recognized your voice. Are you working here again?”  
“I don’t think I’m qualified for any other job, so...”  
Kara crossed her arms again, “How long have you been here?”  
Mon-El closed his eyes and scratched his head, knowing that she wasn’t going to like his answer, “Almost a month.”  
“A month?! Is it for a mission?”  
“No.” He sighed, knowing he wasn’t making the situation better.  
“And you didn’t bother to tell anyone you were here?!? You’re unbel-“  
“Please Kara, let me explain first.”  
“I’m all ears.” She showed him a fake grin, while already feeling deeply upset.

“When I first landed here I was in your custody, I was living between the DEO and your place; the second time I was here, I was with the Legion and we had our spaceship with us, so that’s where I stayed: this time I’m all alone, and I didn’t want to burden anyone, especially you, so I was trying to be more independent. I've been living in a rented apartment, paying my own bills and everything with what I earn here.”  
“That still doesn’t answer everything, why-“  
“Why am I here? Because I decided to leave the Legion for a while and I needed a fresh start, and I probably should’ve chosen another place to start all over, but I couldn’t bring myself to go somewhere else.”  
“I was actually going to ask why you were avoiding me.”

“I wasn’t, I knew it was just a matter of time before one of you guys saw me: after all, the places I know are places you introduced me to, but I needed some time by myself, to think..”

“What happened?”  
“What do you mean?”  
“Why did you leave the Legion?”  
“In the last year, it felt like they didn’t need me anymore: every Legionnaire has such unique abilities and powers, we have recruited so many new people, and I just realized that I wasn’t the leader they needed anymore, so I gave my role to someone else who was far better suited for it and knew I had to move on, or at least take a break from them.” Kara could sense his insecurities mixed with a lot of sadness, dripping from each word he spoke. Mon-El sounded resigned, as if he didn’t have a place in the world anymore: she started to understand why he had ended up coming back to National City again.

“You were a great leader, by the way, no matter what you think, if they became such a formidable team, it’s all because of you.” Kara smiled sincerely, tempted to grab his hands on the table.  
“It means a lot coming from you.”  
“But you know, seeking economic independence doesn’t mean you couldn’t ask us for help? All of us would’ve been more than happy to welcome you and help you.”  
“I know, I know...” He scratched his beard, avoiding her gaze.  
“But?” Kara continued his sentence, and tried to look in his eyes again.

“But.. I was not ready to see you again.”  
“Why?”  
“It’s been a while.”  
“I know.”  
Mon-El let out a nervous chuckle, “I wasn’t so sure you were going to be happy to see me.”  
“It’s funny you say that, because I was thinking the same thing coming here.”  
“Really? How?”  
“I don’t know, I came up with a bunch of theories about why you were avoiding me and didn’t tell me you were here, one of them was that you were here on a mission and if I had met you, I would’ve ruined your plans _and_ the timeline.”  
“Wow, you’ve thought long and hard about this.”  
“A week is nothing compared to a whole month.”  
“You’re right, touché. What other theories did you have?”  
“Oh, uhm, a much sadder one. Luckily, Alex dissuaded me from it.”  
Mon-El raised his eyebrow, expecting her to continue, “Did Winn tell you what happened? With Lex Luthor and everything?”  
“Yeah, he did.”  
“Well,” Kara brought a hand to her neck, “I was afraid that the Crisis altered your reality and your memories, and that you didn’t remember that we met.. that we were together, all of it.”

His mouth was slightly open and his eyes looked confused, “We were together?”  
Kara felt the color draining from her face, and Mon-El instinctively covered her hands with his, “I’m kidding! I’m kidding!”  
“Rao, I hate you!” She looked away from him but her hands stayed still comfortably under his.  
“Nothing and no one can make me forget about you, Kara, not even a wave of antimatter.” Mon-El’s voice was slightly more serious now. He made sure she saw his honesty when he was saying those words, but in one second, all the panic reappeared in his eyes as he realized that their hands were touching and clumsily moved his away.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have—”  
“Mon-El, wait, what’s wrong?”

“I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable, I’m sorry. And that joke was terrible, I’m so, so sorry.” He was about to stand up until Kara grabbed his hand again.  
“What are you talking about? You didn’t do anything wrong.”  
He seemed to calm down at her words. She continued, “Are you sure you’re okay?”  
“I’m working on it.” Mon-El closed his eyes for a few seconds and focused only on her touch.  
His reply confused Kara even more, “Please, be honest with me, tell me what’s wrong.”  
“The reason why I tried to get away from you, for the past month.. Winn told me that you were seeing someone else, and I have absolutely no right to tell you when it’s time to move on, you can do it whenever you feel like it, but I just wasn’t ready to face that reality.”

Kara stayed still and silent for a few seconds, not knowing what to say, but she knew Mon-El well enough to recognize the self-loathing taking over his thoughts and making him think the worst of himself: “For years, I didn’t even dare to think about love, because it hurt too much, so I just focused on myself and ignored my wish to be in a happy relationship like most people around me…and I know what you’re thinking, I know you’re thinking that I moved past our story easily, that you were easy to forget.. But a few minutes ago, you told me that nothing and no one can make you forget about me, and I want you to know that it’s true for me as well. I am seeing someone else, but it’s still early to even call it a relationship or compare it to what we had. I understand why you felt the need to stay away. Though, you need to remember that before anything else, before any relationship, I care about you and will always be here for you whenever you need me.”

“So will I, Kara, but I would be lying if I said that I’d be fine acting as if nothing ever happened between us while you’re with someone else: I’m just.. not in the right state to deal with this right now, while I’m still struggling to build a new life. I hope you can understand where I’m coming from. Gosh, I sound so self-centered.”  
Kara’s lips frowned at his words, but she had been in his shoes a few years before so she recognized he was right and needed space, she couldn’t even get mad.  
“No, no, I totally understand.” She nodded without saying anything else, they both weren’t happy about it and they knew it: there was nothing else to add.  
“But if you ever need an extra Legionnaire on your team, you know where to find me.” Mon-El forced a smile to his lips,  
“Of course.” Kara smiled back, dreading the moment she was going to walk away from him. She stood up, “So, I’ll see you around?”  
“I’ll see you around.” He mirrored Kara and went behind the bar to start organizing for the rest of the day: Kara waved shyly before walking out the door.

“You’re finally here! Now do tell.”  
Alex and Kara were sitting in her living room waiting for Nia to arrive, to start talking about what happened with Mon-El.  
“First of all, he’s been here for a month and is not on a mission, actually I think he’s going to stay for a long while: he left the Legion.”  
“But why?”  
“He felt like he wasn’t a good enough leader anymore after they recruited new members, so he stepped down from that role and gave it to someone else.”  
Nia went straight to the point, “Okay, but why didn’t he show up and say he was back?”  
Kara sighed and continued: “Winn told him I’m seeing someone else, and he’s just not ready to act as if everything is normal and he’s fine: he told me he needs time. And I don’t blame him at all, I mean, when he was here with Imra I would literally run away from him whenever I saw he wanted to talk.”  
“Ouch,” was all Alex had to say.

“It broke my heart to see Mon-El like that, but I knew that I couldn’t do anything without making things worse, so we can just respect his wishes and carry on until he’s okay.”  
“It took you years to talk about him again after he left, so I knew it was a sensitive matter, but now I see it goes both ways.” Nia added.  
“I want him to be happy.”  
Alex put an arm around Kara, “It takes time to find happiness again, I know that more than anyone, you know it too.”

* * *

Two weeks had passed since Kara and Mon-El had met. She had avoided going to the bar, coming up with a thousand excuses especially with William, but that day, he had insisted on getting a few drinks there with some CatCo friends.  
He asked: “Why don’t you want to go there anymore? Is there a problem?”  
“Actually, there may be, if you consider it a problem. Uhm, my.. my ex-boyfriend is working there again, and I just want to avoid any awkwardness between us.”  
“Oh, I see. Did you guys end your relationship on bad terms?”  
“No, not at all. Actually, uh, he had to move away a few years ago, that’s why we broke up. He came back a year later, but he was in a relationship.. uhm, but we’re friends, we’re okay.”  
“Then I don’t see why going there for a night might hurt? I’m sure he’ll be busy anyway, it’s Friday after all.”  
“You’re probably right. So, who’s coming tonight besides me and Nia?”  
“Roger, Luke and Annie: you don’t mind, do you?”  
“Of course not.”

Later that day, Kara had to stop by the bar to talk to Mon-El about something more important than any relationship drama: his identity.  
She knew that he usually worked in the morning at the beginning, but it had been a while now and she was hoping he had perhaps changed his shifts. Mon-El walked out of the kitchen and his eyes widened, not expecting to see Kara: “Hey, what’s going on?”  
Obviously, meeting her so abruptly made him think that there was some sort of super emergency,  
“Hey, there’s nothing to worry about, no capes needed.” She smiled.  
“Oh, okay. Are you okay?”  
Kara scratched the back of her head. “Yeah, yeah, I just wanted to warn you about something: I’m coming here tonight with William and a few other co-workers.”  
“Ah. That’s his name, yeah, no problem. So, he works at CatCo?”  
“Yeah… Are you working tonight as well?”

“Yep. We’re kind of short staffed, Randy is getting married soon and has taken two weeks off. I’m covering his shift too.”  
“Oh, got it. To avoid problems with your secret identity, even though you haven’t worn your red suit in a while, do you mind introducing yourself as Mike? And wearing your glasses?”  
“Of course not, but there’s a little problem: I don’t have glasses here anymore. I’ve been living between my place and here, and I haven’t needed them so far.”  
“I figured that was the case, so I brought you a pair I had at home.”  
Mon-El couldn’t mask the surprise on his face, “Thank you. Sorry, my hands are a little greasy, let me wash them so I can grab those.”  
“There’s no need, come here.” Kara opened the arms of the glasses and placed them on the bridge of Mon-El's, or Mike’s, nose.  
“There you go. I’ll see you later.”  
He smiled as she walked away, déjà vu flashing through his mind: “See you later.”

When the six coworkers sat down at their table, Kara looked for Mon-El with her eyes, but not finding him yet, she assumed he was still in the kitchen. Al took their orders and went back to serve drinks to the other customers seated at the bar.  
Suddenly, Mon-El took his place, he was wearing the glasses she’d given him, and his eyes immediately scanned the room to find where Kara was: once he’d seen her and she’d caught him looking, they shared a timid, sad smile.

The night was passing quickly between snacks, jokes and drinks, and William turned out to be right, the bar was getting crowded. Kara had lost sight of Mon-El almost completely; she only overheard him taking orders at the other tables, but she hadn’t even seen his face, she didn’t know if he was doing okay and had started worrying about him overworking himself. Kara closed her eyes for a few seconds and tried to find Mon-El’s heartbeat to make sure it was steady and calm: when she finally heard it, she noticed it thumping a little quicker than usual, but stayed at her place and focused on the friends surrounding her.

An hour later, theirs was one of the three occupied tables left: the drunkenness of the others was slowly disappearing, William put an arm around Kara and instinctively, she rested her head on his shoulder, feeling quite sleepy. She closed her eyes once more, and almost involuntarily, her ears tried to find that heartbeat again.  
It was much louder now, so fast, it almost gave her a headache.  
Not even ten seconds later, the loud sound of a glass falling on the floor interrupted the quietness of the room. Kara jumped. That sound was too close to the heartbeat she had been focusing on; she didn’t need to look to know who had dropped it.  
Everyone in the bar turned around to see Mon-El kneeling on the floor to pick up the glass shards, with his face low: his heartbeat sounded like a thunder-storm now.

“S-sorry, I have to go to the bathroom.” Kara stood up from her place and walked away without looking back, but Nia followed her, sensing there was something wrong.  
Closing the door behind her, Kara covered her mouth trying to stay calm and not cry : “Kara? What happened?” Nia hugged her not needing an answer.

“I don’t wanna talk about it right now, I need to leave.”  
“Hey, wait: take a deep breath and focus on me. Relax, take a few minutes to cool down, and then we’ll leave together.”  
Following her instructions, Kara was mostly back to normal, so Nia asked: “Do you think you can at least say goodbye to our friends? I don’t feel like leaving them without an explanation.”  
“Yeah, let’s go.”

The two girls announced they were leaving:  
“What’s wrong?” William asked before everyone else.  
“I’m okay, but I think I ate something that gave me a terrible stomach ache, so my Friday night ends right here.”  
Nia added “And I’m the sober friend, so I’m driving her home.”  
“Yeah.. Good night, I’ve had lots of fun with you guys, I’ll see you on Monday.”  
The group looked a bit upset but waved goodbye at the two friends.

  
A few seconds before walking through the door, Kara saw Mon-El sitting behind the bar. His eyes bore into hers and in that moment, he knew she was as in much pain as he was: she mouthed _‘I’m sorry’_ and stepped outside.


	2. I'm not your problem anymore.

Another three weeks went by since that night; Kara had tried to ignore the turmoil of feelings she’d experienced and moved forward with her relationship with William, which was getting more serious.  
No one went to the bar anymore, except for J’onn every now and then: he would talk to Mon-El but never disclose information about their conversations.  
However, due to force majeure, Supergirl and her team needed Mon-El in his red suit again: a mysterious new villain had shown up in National City through a portal he’d created himself, and after thorough research, Brainy found signs of him appearing in different time periods.  
  
There was no doubt he was a time traveler up to no good, but since Brainy did not recall seeing him during his first years with the Legion, they needed all the help they could get, even if it meant creating a very tense environment.  
When Kara went to see Mon-El, she put on the most serious face she could: it wasn’t the right time to let her emotions show. “Mon-El, we need your help.”  
He put down the bottle he was pouring from, visibly stunned by her sudden reappearance: “What’s wrong?”  
“Follow me outside.”  
Mon-El did as told and took flight behind Kara, heading to the Tower where everyone else was waiting for them.

“What did you need me for?” Mon-El skipped uncomfortable hellos and went straight to the point.  
“This time traveling man showed up a few days ago here in National City, and two dead bodies were found near his location, looking as if he’d drained them of their energies, their lives.” As Kara explained, the pictures of the unknown man and of the two corpses appeared on screen.  
“Do you know him?” J’onn finally asked.  
  
Mon-El passed a hand over his face; he seemed shocked and troubled at the sight of that monster. “I- I do.”  
He swallowed nervously, “He’s incredibly dangerous: I almost lost one of my dearest friends because of him.”  
“Who is he?” Kara appeared more and more upset at each word he spoke.  
“Winn called him the Energizer.”  
“Really? I expected a better name from Winn.” Alex interjected.  
“Yeah, he wasn’t too proud of it either, but he said that Parasite was already taken, so..”  
“So, he is similar to Parasite, I’ve already defeated him.”

“It’s not that simple, Kara.” Mon-El stopped her before she’d underestimate his powers. “He started out as a simple parasite, but as he absorbed energies he evolved, gaining some of the powers of the heroes he’d destroyed, like the ability to create these breaches and portals through space and time.”  
She tried to readjust her expectations. “What happened to your friend?”  
  
He took a deep breath. Everyone saw in his eyes that it wasn’t going to be an easy story to tell: “His goal is to become the most powerful being in the universe, so he travels to specifically annihilate the most powerful superheroes. When we fought him, he found his ideal victim in my friend Garth, and if we hadn’t acted quickly and given him a blood transfusion from his sister Ayla, Winn’s wife, he would’ve died.”

“We need to find him before more people get hurt, or worse.”  
“I’m already on it.” Brainy quickly replied, “I’ve taken samples of his DNA from the previous crime scene and I’m now scanning the city to locate him as accurately as possible.”  
Mon-El warned, “But before we go to find him, we need something to protect us, a shield of some sort that can simultaneously overpower him, like you did with Parasite. You can’t afford to be touched.” His worried gaze was fixed on Kara, and not only because she was the most powerful person in the room.  
“Alex, you and Brainy should start working on the shields.”  
“I’ll keep an eye on the scanner.” J’onn said, “You, Nia and Mon-El shouldn’t be seen outside as superheroes until we’re ready to face him, and we can’t let him find you first.”  
The three of them nodded, even though it was hard to just stand there with nothing to do.  
  
“Do you think he knows my identity? Maybe he found it at some point, time traveling.” Kara voiced her doubts to Mon-El, not wanting to scare Nia.  
“As Kara Danvers?”  
“Yeah.”  
“No, I don’t think so: in the future you’re known as Kara Zor-El, Supergirl, but there’s no information about your human identity.”  
“I just... don’t feel comfortable continuing to live my life normally as if somebody wasn’t about to attack me at any moment.”  
Mon-El understood her worries and smiled sympathetically: “Go home, I’ll let you know when we’re ready.”  
“Thank you.”

  
  


Despite Mon-El’s attempts to calm her down, Kara spent the next three days with the ominous feeling that something horrible was about to happen.  
The plan to locate the Energizer had succeeded and the shields were done, even if they ended up looking more like vests: they had a mirroring technology, Brainy explained. If the Energizer tried to grab them, he would get hit by a high-frequency electrical current able to exhaust him.  
It was finally time to fight.

Alex kept throwing worried glances at her sister, “Please, be careful.”  
“I’ll try my best.” They hugged tightly, before Kara flew with Mon-El to the coordinates Brainy had given them.

  
  
  


“And there she is,” A raspy voice startled them from behind, the Energizer stood with a smug expression on his face, “with a friend, who kinda looks familiar.”  
His eyes wandered to Mon-El’s clenched fist, “Oh, I know that ring! You’re from the Legion of Superheroes, aren’t you? A bunch of Superman and Supergirl wannabes, but I’ll admit you’re fun to fight with. By the way,” he pointed at their protective vests, “those won’t work with me.”  
The Energizer blinked and suddenly the shields on their chests unclasped themselves, as if he- “Telekinesis, a gift I got a few years ago from a weirdo named Raven.”  
  
He sped in Kara’s direction, but right before he laid his hands on her, Mon-El pushed her out of the way and ended up in the Energizer’s deathly grip: when she saw his energies getting drained with wide, shocked eyes, Kara let out an inhuman scream. "No!"  
Mon-El knelt and dropped to the floor, without an ounce of strength left in his body.  
Alex and J’onn acted fast with their Plan B, respectively shooting the Energizer from the opposite building with a gun powered in the same way as the shields, and paralyzing him through telepathy; Nia used her powers to tie him up as a precaution and put power-dampening handcuffs on him.

  
  
Kara yelled while she took Mon-El’s weak and unconscious body in her arms. “We have to go! Now!” They all rushed urgently to the Tower, knowing they were running out of time to save his life.  
  
The tears couldn’t stop falling from Kara’s eyes, as she placed Mon-El on a bed in front of the yellow sun lamps, “Alex, please call Eliza, call Lena, call anyone who knows how we can save him, I-I have to save him. I can’t let him die.” Her voice trembled with desperation but was still loud and determined.  
“Listen to me, Kara, I’ll tell J’onn to call them, but he’s already told us what to do, remember? He said his friend needed a blood transfusion.”

“But there’s no one here who could help him! He’s the only Daxami-”  
“I know, but the closest thing we have is your blood, Kryptonian blood.”  
“But Alex, it’s too risky, it could make everything much worse.”  
“I wouldn’t tell you to do this if I didn’t know that it can’t get any worse than it already is. This is our last resort.” Alex was speaking like a caring sister, but also like a doctor who was willing to go to extreme lengths to save her patient.

Kara finally nodded and told Alex to prepare the equipment for the transfusion, even if she didn’t feel any less afraid: J’onn called Lena and Eliza as Kara had asked, hoping they’d bring new ideas and solutions to save Mon-El’s life, or at least slow down the decline of his health.  
Mon-El looked lifeless, his skin extremely pale, all of his veins standing out: Kara was terrified of holding his hand too tight, but she couldn’t let go either.

  
In the meantime, Alex updated Eliza and Lena on what had happened and on the transfusion, and luckily, they agreed with her on the decision: both women were dumbfounded to see Mon-El again, but even more distressed to see his condition.  
Eliza tried to warn Kara, “Giving Mon-El your blood will help him, but you need to know it’s gonna take a long time before he heals.”  
“I don’t care how long it takes, as long as I can save him like he saved me.”  
“He’s going to be okay.”  
Kara turned to Lena now, “Do you think you can make something that could speed up his healing process?”  
She sighed, feeling useless: “It’s not an illness with an antidote, we only have to give him enough energy to heal, we can give him vitamins and nutrients through a drip, but nothing more than what has already been done. We must keep him under the sun lamps and just wait.”  
  
Kara kept glancing at Mon-El, his hand always in hers, hoping to see some sort of progress in his features, but nothing happened.  
She stared at his arm, the needles, the blood flowing in that tight tube between them, with just a single thought echoing in her mind: _“It should’ve been me. He was looking for me, he was attacking me, why did Mon-El have to get hurt instead? It should’ve been me.”_

* * *

She didn’t have a clue how many days, or weeks, went by since they were attacked: they morphed all together into a routine of dragging her feet to work and constantly checking on Mon-El whenever she got a chance, praying every day that he was finally going to wake up.  
  
At first, Kara tried to pretend she was okay in front of William but it kept getting harder. She knew he could see that something was wrong.  
She finally told him that Mike was sick and in the hospital, without giving further details, and luckily he’d been understanding enough to not pry on it and let Kara feel her emotions. Alex nearly forced her to take a week off and to stay away from the med bay at the Tower, but Kara felt guilty as soon as she stayed away for too long. During her time off, she went to the bar, but when Al asked for updates from Mon-El, whether there was any improvement, she had nothing to say.  
William tried to check on Kara while she wasn’t working, by visiting her at home and texting her to see how she was doing, but he was getting no responses to his knocks and she ignored every single call and text she received. When he’d ask Nia if she had heard from Kara, Nia would just shrug and say she was still at the hospital.

Kara realized that she had been ignoring William for far too long, which added to her previous constant guilt, so when he asked to meet her to see how she was feeling she finally agreed and told him to come to her place.  
He showed up bringing some food, because he knew “ _it_ _’s_ _easy to skip meals when we feel bad._ ” And she thanked him for his thoughtfulness, but right then, his face got a little more serious: “Listen, I’m not here just to see how you are, but also because I wanted to talk about something important.”  
Kara swallowed nervously but waited for him to carry on.

“I already had a few thoughts about your previous relationship during that night at the bar, but now it’s clear as day to me that whatever you had, or still have, with Mike, is unfinished.”  
“William...”  
“Kara, I’m not mad. You did nothing wrong, but I should’ve taken a step back when you said that the only reason you broke up was that he had to move away. Now, I see it in your eyes how much you’re suffering because of his current situation, and the only explanation I can find is that you’re still in love with Mike.”  
She passed a hand over her exhausted eyes, she was too tired of everything to even attempt to hide the truth, it was pointless anyway. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”  
“I’m not hurt, it just stings a little... but that doesn’t even compare to the pain you’re feeling right now. And by the way, I understand why you were so scared to give me a chance in the first place: your break up with him hurt you and you were terrified at the possibility of being hurt again.”  
Kara nodded and sighed, “I’m glad you understand.”  
“For what it’s worth,” William continued, “I hope he recovers soon and you can be happy with him again: I’m sure he’s a great guy and you deserve all the happiness.”  
“You’re a great guy, too. I hope you know that and don’t think that you’re a bad partner.”  
William shrugged lightly: “It takes more than two good people to build a relationship: there’s nothing without love.”

Kara was back at Mon-El’s side, holding his hand as always. She had noticed how his skin had gone back to its normal shade and how his veins weren’t as visible anymore, but she couldn’t understand why he still wasn’t waking up.  
“Maybe I have to try talking to you, even if I’m probably going to sound so stupid doing it.” Kara bit her lip and suppressed a chuckle, “I don’t think I ever told you, but after you first landed here, I used to talk to you while you were still unconscious. Back then, the thought of it being silly didn’t even cross my mind: I was just so excited to have someone else who knew and remembered my world, someone to share my thoughts with, my memories..  
And yes, at the time, I still thought you were a Kryptonian like me, but at the end of the day, you being a Daxamite didn’t change that much when it came to sharing our stories. My vision of our planets was so distorted by my prejudices, but you helped me tear those walls down. And also... the walls I had built around my heart.”  
Her eyes started watering and turning into another shade of blue, “You opened up my heart in a way that I didn’t think was possible: you held my hand, helped me face my fears, and it all paid off, because the time I had with you was the happiest of my life, but it wasn’t nearly enough. I want to make up for all the years we’ve already lost, but I need you to wake up so I can tell you all these things looking into your eyes. Please, wake up.”

Kara waited and waited for a miracle, but nothing was happening.  
She wanted to stand up to go wash her face, but a sudden movement made her heartbeat speed up: Mon-El was holding her hand tighter than before, and it only took that simple gesture to bring hope back into Kara’s heart.  
She called Alex, thinking he was finally about to wake up, but another hour went by without any progress.

“I know you’re disappointed, but slow progress is still progress: that means he heard you, he felt your presence by his side. I’m sure Mon-El will wake up very soon.”  
“I don’t know Alex, I’m scared.”  
“It’s okay to be scared, but don’t lose hope.”

“Thank you for coming over, Nia.”  
“Of course, I also brought you some wine.” The Naltorian showed the bottle in her hands.  
“Thanks, but I’m not in the mood.”  
“But it doesn’t even affect you...” They sat on the couch, Nia placed the bottle on the table before them: “I know, I’m just sticking to water right now.”  
Nia gave her a concerned look, “Kara, you know you can let yourself go, right?”  
“What do you mean?”  
“Mon-El’s condition is clearly improving, and you have been too focused on the guilt his accident caused-”  
“It’s hard to focus on anything else, when it should’ve been me.” Kara cut her short.  
“Kara...”  
“He sacrificed himself, again, for me! How can I not feel guilty about this?”  
“I’m sorry, you’re right. I don’t want to minimize your emotions, but... there are people who are worried about your wellbeing.”  
“If Alex says he’s going to be okay soon, then that’s when I’ll be okay, too.”  
  
“I’m not talking about Alex, I’m talking about William. He’s been asking me about you every day at work.”  
“He actually came here earlier, we discussed this.”  
“Really? And what did he say?”  
“He understands. He knows I’m still in love with Mon-El and he officially broke things off with me.”  
At that point Nia was grateful she wasn’t drinking, otherwise she would’ve spilled wine everywhere. Once she got over the shock, she asked Kara what she wanted to do.  
“I’ll wait for him to wake up, and then I’ll just follow what my heart wants.”

* * *

Kara tried her best to follow Nia’s advice: she tried to write more articles and to not ignore her co-workers when they wanted to talk or hang out, but at the end of the day, she was always on the same chair at Mon-El’s side, holding his hand.  
She’d tell him about who she saved or helped as Supergirl, what she’d written about at CatCo, what she’d heard on the news or read in the newspaper: after he first reacted to her words, Kara simply never stopped talking.  
  
“I’m really grateful for the people in my life, loving and caring for me even when I can’t do that for myself. I have a feeling that you and Nia would get along really well, she’s so great and passionate, and a much better superhero than I was during my first year as Supergirl, she’s amazing. I’m sure her great-great-great granddaughter is just as wonderful.”  
Kara paused, becoming more pensive, “I should’ve asked you more about the 31st century when I had the chance, instead of avoiding you.” She rubbed her forehead; the memory of those days still hurt: “I know you were trying your best to keep things as normal as possible between us, but I just kept running away and pushing my real feelings down.”  
Her voice lowered, a sigh escaped her lips, “I’m sorry. I never asked how it was for you to get used to an entirely new world twice, in the span of a year. I never asked you how you truly felt when you got there…” Kara chuckled bitterly, “I will never learn, will I?”  
She eyed him more intensely, arguing with herself internally: “Every day for months… I regretted waiting until our last kiss to tell you that I loved you, and then I kept making the same mistake over and over again, burying my memories of you and my feelings so deeply I could keep pretending they were never there in the first place. And now, these same feelings are tearing me apart, strengthened by the guilt of what happened to you. I’m so sorry.”  
Her tears flowed on her cheeks no matter how hard she tried to keep them at bay; Kara hated feeling so broken and vulnerable, but she needed to release her emotions after pretending to be unaffected for the entire day.  
  
The silence of the room was broken by a raspy voice that immediately made Kara raise her head: “Don’t cry.”  
She looked at his face to make sure she wasn’t imagining things, “Mon-El?” Her mouth was slightly open, her eyes wide and full of surprise.

Mon-El opened his eyes slowly, letting them adjust to the brightness of the sun lamps. He had a sheepish smile on his lips. He cleared his throat before speaking again: “I’ve actually been awake for a little bit, but I didn’t want to interrupt.”  
Kara didn’t know what she wanted to do, she wanted to hug him but had no idea if he was strong enough for it, so she gradually took in each word he had uttered, not being able to move. “H-how long have you been awake?”  
“Since you started talking about Nia, more or less: then you started talking about your regrets and your feelings.. and you must’ve been very lost in your thoughts, since you didn’t even realize I intertwined our fingers.”  
Her gaze dropped again to look at their hands. Kara smiled brightly and chuckled, “I guess I got carried away.”  
  
“I believe it’s my time to talk now.” Mon-El moved his hand away to support himself while trying to sit up on his bed. “I know you feel terrible about what happened to me, but don’t be: you saved me again, and that’s what matters the most. And I know this won’t make you feel any better,” he grabbed her hands, “but I would always make that same choice if it meant keeping you safe.”  
“That really _doesn’t_ make me feel better. Does this mean you’ll throw yourself into every dangerous circumstance? I don’t think I can handle that.”  
He smiled looking into her eyes, “I’ll do my best to stay away, but I can’t promise you anything. Also, I don’t know how long I’ve been in a coma, and what happened while I was unconscious, but I wanna thank you for taking care of me and staying by my side.”  
  
Before Kara could reply, her phone beeped interrupting the sweet moment.  
Mon-El swallowed and cleared his throat once more while she checked the text: “Is it William?” His voice betrayed a deep anxiety that wasn’t there a minute before.  
Her mouth was left hanging open. She wasn’t expecting Mon-El to bring up William, especially since he’d heard what she’d told him. “No, uhm we’re not.. no. We’re not together.” She emphasized with a hand gesture.  
“Oh.”  
“It’s Alex: she wanted to know if I was here and if there was any update on your conditions. I might’ve uh, forgotten to tell her you’re awake.” She laughed nervously as she glanced at Mon-El and her phone screen. “I’m gonna text her to come here with Eliza so you can get checked and see if you’ve recovered completely.”  
  
“Oh, Eliza is coming? I should make myself more presentable then.” Mon-El replied, running his fingers through his hair to comb it.  
Kara couldn’t believe he still remembered that awkward Thanksgiving scene, “Oh, shut up!”  
They laughed together and for a moment, it felt like no time had passed and she was still his mentor, teaching him all about the Earth and its customs.  
“Are you sure you’re feeling okay? Do you have pain anywhere? Do you feel fatigued?”  
Mon-El reassured her: “I feel fine. You should go home and get some rest, it seems kinda late and I’m sure you have to go to work tomorrow.”  
“No, I want to stay here until I’m 100% sure you’re healthy and safe.”  
“Okay.”  
  
Eliza and Alex arrived a few minutes later, both incredibly happy to see Mon-El awake again. After checking all of his vital signs, they delightedly stated that his energy was back to normal, but it was probably better to not overwork himself and jump into superheroing for a little while.  
Kara felt a weight lift off her shoulders knowing he was finally safe: “I think I should drive you home, I’m sure you don’t want to stay in that bed one second longer.”  
  
“Do you know where I live?”  
“No, actually no one does, according to Al.”  
“Why did you ask Al where I lived?”  
“Well, while you were here I wanted to make sure your house wasn’t robbed, or just too dirty. I was just going to check every once in a while.”  
“That’s very considerate of you, thank you.”

Besides Mon-El’s indications on where to go, the drive home was pretty quiet but never uncomfortable, and when they found themselves at his door, he welcomed Kara inside.  
She was surprised to see how all of his furniture seemed to be untouched, “Have you even sat on that couch?”  
Mon-El laughed at her question, “Barely. To be honest, when I get back home from work I don’t feel like watching TV, I usually grab one of the few books in my library and read it in my bedroom.” He pointed at the bookshelf behind Kara. Not even a dozen books sat on it.

She turned around and silently read the titles on them: a small one in particular grabbed her attention. _Romeo and-  
_“Kara. Can I ask you something?”  
Butterflies started fluttering in her stomach, “Yes.”  
“What happened with William?”

She could see in his eyes how Mon-El was already blaming himself, as if he’d done something that hurt her. “It’s not like we were officially dating, but he decided it was best for us to stop pretending we wanted to be together, well... for me.”  
“What do you mean “ _pretending_ ”?  
Kara took a deep breath, “Life is too short to waste it with the wrong person, especially when you know that the man you’re in love with is just mere miles away.. and I believe that we’ve already spent too much time without each other. So please, let’s never make that mistake again.”  
  


In the dim light, Mon-El seemed shocked and moved at the same time: “I never thought I’d be lucky enough to hear those words from you.” He tried to hide the growing smile on his lips, but to no avail.  
She stepped closer and whispered, “I never thought I’d be lucky enough to get another chance to tell you.” Intertwining their hands again.  
Gravity slowly pulled Kara and Mon-El towards each other, and time seemed to stand still when their lips finally met. It was as if some God had answered their prayers about not having to worry about the world for once. It was just them.  
  
  
That night, Kara fell asleep listening to Mon-El’s heartbeat: it was steady, and calm, and she thought it was the most beautiful sound she’d ever heard.  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is it! Thank you so much for all the support, I genuinely wasn't expecting such a positive reaction to the first chapter, I hope you enjoyed this second part just as much. ❤️😊 Let me know what you guys thought in the comments and leave kudos if you haven't already! 😁

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed this first chapter!❤️ Surprisingly, this didn't start as a Taylor inspired work, but I've had this plot haunting me for months now, "What if Mon-El returned without saying anything because he thought he'd be a burden for Kara?", and the title just seemed right. Poor sweet self-loathing prince.. ☹️☹️  
> The second part will be posted sometime in the next two weeks, and if you thought this hurt, wait 'til you see what's next...🤭😈


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